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HVvot,- 


l>i$torical  Sketch 
of  Tom  years 


I$70'10l0 


By 

Mrs.  W.  Packer  Prentice 


Women’s  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church 
Room  818,  156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 

Price  2  cents  \  20  cents  per  dozen 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  FORTY 

YEARS 


(Written  for  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Women’s  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions,  held  in  the  University  Place  Church, 
N  ew  York,  April  27th,  1910.) 


WE  meet  to-day  and  celebrate  the  fortieth 
anniversary  of  the  Women’s  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions*  Forty  years  “with  the 
good  hand  of  our  God  upon  us.”  No  halt,  no 
retrenchment,  but  only  a  steady  progress  in  the 
work  of  missions — this  is  our  record — and  we 
offer  our  thanks  to  Him  who  has  honored  us 
by  calling  us  to  work  in  His  vineyard.  The 
young  wife  of  the  cavalry  officer  on  our 
western  plains,  when  she  saw  the  appalling 
spiritual  destitution  of  the  region  and  sent 
home  the  plea  that  some  effort  should  be 
made  to  send  the  Gospel  thither,  little  thought 
as  she  threw  that  stone  that  its  ripple  would 
spread  until  the  waves  of  missionary  progress 
would  encircle  the  whole  earth.  And  she  still 
lives  to  see  what  God  hath  wrought.  This 
little  band,  “The  New  Mexico,  Arizona  and 
Colorado  Missionary  Association,”  formed  an 
appropriate  nucleus  for  the  distinctly  Presby¬ 
terian  Society  formed  in  1870,  with  the  title, 
“The  Ladies’  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Pres¬ 
byterian  Church,”  auxiliary  to  the  Home  and 
Foreign  Boards,  and  laboring  in  both  fields. 
Representatives  from  the  different  Presbyte¬ 
rian  churches  in  New  York  City  formed  the 
Board  of  Managers,  with  Auxiliary  Societies 
in  their  respective  churches,  and  in  addition 
to  these  were  21  Auxiliaries  in  different  lo¬ 
calities.  Among  these  original  managers 
were  many  sainted  women — Mrs.  Horace 


3 


Holden,  Mrs.  William  E.  Dodge,  Mrs.  R.  R. 
Booth,  Mrs.  Sheafe,  Miss  Kennedy,  Mrs.  C.  P. 
Hartt,  Mrs.  Loring  Andrews,  Mrs.  Robert 
Kelly.  The  first  report  shows  48  Auxiliaries, 
9  Missionaries,  6  Bible  Readers,  and  receipts, 
$7,747.00.  To-day  we  have  34  Presbyterial 
Societies,  904  Women’s  Auxiliary  Societies, 
1,299  Young  People’s  Societies  and  Mission 
Bands ;  while  we  are  supporting  129  Mission¬ 
aries,  taking  part  in  many  Mission  Stations, 
and  our  receipts  this  year  are  $114,868.17. 
While  we  realize  that  the  work  of  missions 
cannot  be  reckoned  by  a  money  value,  that 
God  will  number  many  unknown  jewels  in 
the  last  great  accounting;  yet  it  will  interest 
us  to  note  that  in  these  40  years  we  have 
raised  over  two  million  dollars  for  Foreign 
Missions. 

For  13  years  the  Ladies’  Board  of  Missions 
pursued  its  double  work  for  Home  and 
Foreign  Missions,  gaining  constantly  new 
auxiliaries.  In  1875  were  formed  3  Presby¬ 
terial  Societies,  to  which  organizations  con¬ 
formable  to  our  Presbyterian  forms  of  order, 
report  the  Auxiliaries  in  each  Presbytery,  thus 
giving  an  opportunity  of  closer  oversight  of 
individual  societies  and  a  more  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  needs  of  each  society  and 
greatly  lessening  the  labors  at  Headquarters. 
It  was  in  1883  that  the  first  great  change  came 
into  the  scope  of  our  work — the  relinquish¬ 
ment  of  all  work  in  the  Home  Missions 
Department.  This  was  a  great  grief  to  our 
President,  Mrs.  Graham,  who,  with  many  of 
the  Managers,  was  loth  to  give  up  that  phase 
of  the  work  which  had  been  the  original 
cause  of  this  missionary  organization.  But  it 
was  felt  that  an  individual  aim  would  produce 
greater  concentration  and  larger  results,  and 
accordingly  at  the  annual  meeting  held  at 
Rochester  and  at  an  adjourned  meeting  in  this 
city  the  Ladies’  Board  decided  to  transfer  its 


4 


Home  Mission  Department  to  the  care  of  the 
Woman’s  Executive  Committee  of  Home  Mis¬ 
sions.  As  we  look  at  the  glorious  work  of 
this  Home  Missions  Board  we  can  but  feel 
that  the  wisdom  of  this  radical  change  has 
been  justified.  The  reorganized  Society  at 
this  time  adopted  a  more  comprehensive  con¬ 
stitution  under  the  title  of  the  “Women’s 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presby¬ 
terian  Church,  New  York,”  and  has  since 
labored  exclusively  in  Foreign  Mission  fields. 
In  May,  1885,  the  Women’s  Board  became 
an  incorporated  body,  capable  of  holding 
property  and  receiving  legacies.  The  next 
important  change,  or  rather  growth,  came  in 
1908  when  we  were  privileged  to  welcome 
into  our  ranks  9  Presbyterial  Societies,  2 
from  Kentucky  (formerly  connected  with  the 
Cumberland  Board),  3  Presbyterial  Societies 
of  Northern  New  Jersey,  which,  because  of 
their  proximity  to  the  Headquarters  in  New 
York  City,  felt  that  they  more  naturally 
belonged  to  our  Board  and  were  most  cordi¬ 
ally  transferred  from  the  Philadelphia  Board, 
and  4  Presbyterial  Societies  which  had  previ¬ 
ously  formed  the  Board  of  Northern  New 
York.  This  accession  has  proved  delightful 
and  stimulating  to  all,  and  includes  the  Synods 
of  New  York  and  Kentucky, 

During  these  40  years  the  Women’s  Board 
has  had  3  Presidents,  devout  women  raised  up 
of  the  Lord,  with  varying  gifts  and  character¬ 
istics,  each  one  thoroughly  adapted  for  the 
distinct  periods  of  our  existence.  Our  first 
President,  Mrs.  James  Lorimer  Graham,  was 
a  woman  of  large  mental  grasp,  with  enthusi¬ 
asm  and  initiative,  far-seeing  and  undaunted 
by  the  magnitude  of  the  task  undertaken  for 
the  first  time  by  the  women  of  the  Presbyter¬ 
ian  Church.  For  13  years  she  devoted  almost 
every  hour  of  her  time  to  the  interests  of  the 
Society,  inspiring  many  to  unite  in  the  work, 


5 


bringing  to  bear  her  many  gifts  of  social 
position.  She  kept  every  detail  of  the  work 
in  her  mind  and  maintained  an  enormous  cor¬ 
respondence — a  loving  friend  to  all  our  mis¬ 
sionaries,  admired  and  beloved  by  all  with 
whom  she  came  in  contact.  Her  death, 
occurring  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1883, 
was  a  great  loss  to  the  Society,  but  at  once 
her  place  was  ably  filled  by  Mrs.  O.  P.  Hub¬ 
bard,  whose  qualifications  enabled  her  to  guide 
the  enlarging  group  of  auxiliaries  into  larger 
channels  and  to  lay  foundations  wide  and 
deep,  equal  to  any  superstructure.  This  was 
the  period  of  constructive  formation  and 
wisely  and  well  was  this  done  under  our  sec¬ 
ond  President,  who,  alas !  was  only  granted  to 
us  for  four  years.  In  1888  Mrs.  Henry  N. 
Beers  became  the  President.  Of  deep  spirit¬ 
uality,  calm  and  wise  judgment,  with  fine  tact, 
she  led  the  ranks,  guiding  the  various  depart¬ 
ments  of  our  work  with  happy  skill.  After 
rounding  out  twenty  years  of  faithful  service 
Mrs.  Beers  felt  that  advancing  years  precluded  . 
her  from  active  work  and  she  declined  a  re¬ 
nomination,  but  until  her  death,  the  following 
year,  maintained  her  deep  interest  and  took 
up  committee  work  with  loving  devotion. 
Upon  her  resignation  the  present  President 
was  elected — Mrs.  W.  Packer  Prentice,  who 
having  been  the  first  Secretary  of  the  New 
Mexico  Association,  is  now,  in  point  of  ser¬ 
vice  upon  the  Board,  the  oldest  manager. 

We  would  briefly  refer  to  the  Magazines 
edited  by  our  Board :  In  1871  was  issued  the 
first  number  of  “Our  Mission  Field,”  which, 
in  1885,  was  united  with  the  Magazine  of  the 
Philadelphia  Society  and  Northwest  Board, 
called,  “Woman’s  Work  for  Woman,”  under 
the  title  of  “Woman’s  Work  for  Woman  and 
Our  Mission  Field.”  Later  the  title  became 
“Woman’s  Work,  a  Foreign  Missions  Maga¬ 
zine,”  and  this  publication,  ably  edited  by 


6 


Miss  Ellen  C.  Parsons,  is  of  the  greatest  use¬ 
fulness  in  inciting  interest  and  conveying 
information  of  our  many  mission  stations.  A 
magazine  for  children  was  started  in  1885, 
called  “Children’s  Work  for  Children,”  which, 
in  1893,  took  the  title  of  “Over  Sea  and 
Land”  and  became  the  organ  of  both  the 
Home  and  the  Foreign  Women’s  Societies, 
and  has  very  recently  transferred  its  head¬ 
quarters  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York.  In 
addition  to  these  publications  is  now  yearly 
issued  “The  Year  Book  of  Prayer,”  wherein  a 
day  is  assigned  to  every  missionary  for  loving 
thought  and  earnest  prayer  by  those  at  home. 
Our  Publication  Committee  is  becoming  more 
active  with  each  year,  many  leaflets,  circulars, 
helps  to  study,  etc.,  being  published  constantly. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  our  40th  anni¬ 
versary  is  being  held  in  this  University  Place 
Church,  where  many  of  the  first  meetings  of 
the  Society  were  held,  whose  pastor  at  that 
time.  Rev.  Robert  Russell  Booth,  was  one  of 
the  ablest  advisers  of  the  new  organization ; 
where  was  held  our  25th  anniversary ;  the 
church  where  three  of  our  Presidents,  Mrs. 
Graham,  Mrs.  Hubbard  and  Mrs.  Prentice 
have  been  members,  and  w^hose  present  pastor. 
Dr.  George  Alexander,  is  himself  the  Presi¬ 
dent  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

During  the  first  years  of  the  Society,  meet¬ 
ings  were  held  in  the  apartment  of  Mrs. 
Graham,  in  West  10th  Street;  upon  her  death 
a  room  was  rented  in  the  handsome  house  on 
Washington  Square,  which  had  been  for  many 
years  the  home  of  the  Grahams.  But  when 
the  Foreign  Board  removed  from  Centre 
Street,  in  1888,  to  the  commodious  mansion, 
53  Fifth  Avenue,  which  had  been  given  to  the 
Missionary  Boards  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
through  the  munificence  of  Mr.  Robert  Lenox, 
the  Ladies’  Board  was  given  pleasant  quarters 
there.  This  move  was  followed  by  another 


7 


when  the  Presbyterian  Building  at  156  Fifth 
Avenue  was  completed,  and  now  we  have 
delightful  rooms  and  accommodations,  with 
the  Assembly  Room  for  our  meetings,  and 
where  it  is  possible  to  consult  with  the 
Secretaries  of  the  Board  without  delay. 

During  these  forty  years  we  have  supported 
a  long  list  of  missionaries,  increasing  their 
number  year  by  year.  Our  Foreign  Secre¬ 
taries  are  in  close  correspondence  with  these, 
our  dear  missionary  sisters,  and  thus  not  only 
strengthen  and  cheer  them,  but  receive  the 
news  from  the  field  which  is  the  reward  of 
our  efforts  and  the  stimulus  to  new  enter¬ 
prise,  and  through  the  Bureau  of  Exchange 
these  missionary  letters  are  sent  to  all  our 
Constituents  for  their  encouragement  and  use 
in  meetings.  For  a  long  time  we  gave  out  to  the 
Auxiliaries,  for  their  special  work,  Bible 
readers  and  scholars,  or  scholarships,  but  for 
several  years  we  have  adopted  what  is  known 
as  the  “Station  Plan.”  We  found  that  often 
a  Bible  Reader  was  transferred,  the  scholars 
died  or  were  married,  and  that  a  continuity  of 
interest  was  better  preserved,  even  if  a  little 
of  the  personal  element  was  lost,  by  having 
the  Auxiliaries  give  their  contributions  to  the 
mission  station  which  appealed  most  strongly 
to  their  interest.  Then  when  word  comes  of 
any  part  of  the  work  of  their  station,  they 
receive  the  account  of  the  larger  work  and 
gain  in  knowledge  and  interest.  This  seems 
to  be  the  nearest  approach  to  the  ideal  of 
giving  indefinitely  “to  the  cause,”  which  is 
possible  to  our  human  desire  for  the  concrete, 
and  our  experience  of  its  usefulness  has  justi¬ 
fied  this  plan. 

Time  would  fail  to  tell  all  of  the  many 
different  objects  to  which  we  have  sent  our 
contributions  in  these  40  years,  suffice  it  to 
give  some  items  under  various  heads.  We 
have  given  medical  education  to  three  stu- 

8 


dents,  who  have  done  good  work  upon  the 
field  and  have  assisted  others.  We  have 
aided  in  building  and  keeping  up  many  chapels. 
We  have  bought  land  and  built  houses  for 
missionaries  in  numerous  countries ;  also 
houses  for  native  helpers  and  have  kept  them 
in  repair.  Among  the  missionary  homes  are 
those  for  the  Bernheisels,  in  Korea;  for  the 
Palmers,  in  Laos ;  for  the  Silsbys,  in  China, 
and  for  the  Labarees,  in  Urumia,  Persia. 

Medical  work  always  appeals  to  every 
human  heart  and  we  have  been  able  to  assist 
in  many  missionary  dispensaries,  providing 
equipment  and  various  forms  of  relief  and 
improvement  to  this  kind  of  work,  which  has 
proved  so  successful,  not  only  in  winning 
souls  to  Christ  while  aiding  their  wretched 
bodies,  but  in  presenting  to  heathendom  a 
striking  object-lesson  of  what  Christianity 
stands  for  in  the  world. 

We  have  built  and  furnished  hospitals  at 
Hengchow,  China,  and  at  Chieng  Mai,  Laos, 
and  dispensaries  at  Urumia  and  Hamadan, 
Persia;  Batanga,  Africa,  and  Tsinanfu,  China. 
Many  years  ago  the  Sara  Seward  Hospital  at 
Allahabad,  India,  and  more  recently,  the  Rose 
Bachman  Hospital  at  Tsining-Chou,  China, 
were  entirely  the  work  of  this  Board,  as  was 
also  the  x4nna  Jacobson  Memorial  Home  at 
Seoul,  Korea. 

Most  naturally  the  care  of  schools  would 
fall  appropriately  to  woman’s  w^ork  and  we 
have  been  privileged  to  build  schools,  enlarge 
and  repair  them.  Long  have  we  loved  Graham 
Seminary  at  Tokyo,  Japan,  started  by  our 
Miss  Youngman  in  1872  and,  in  1890,  united 
with  the  Bancho  School  for  Girls,  under  the 
name  of  Joshi  Gakuin.  A  new  Graham 
Dormitory  replaces  the  one  burned  in  1906. 
Miss  Youngman  also  started  the  Training 
School  at  Tokyo,  now  known  as  the  Bible 
Institute. 


9 


We  have  founded  schools  at  Petchaburee, 
Siam;  at  Guatemala  City;  at  Urumia,  Persia, 
and  at  Hamadan,  Persia,  we  have  cared  for 
the  Faith  Hubbard  School  and  have  also 
bought  property  for  the  Boys’  School.  We 
are  now  enlarging  Miss  Sara  C.  Smith’s  long- 
established  school  at  Sapporo,  Japan,  and  are 
assisting  in  the  Boys’  Schools  at  Sidon  and 
at  Tripoli,  Syria.  While  we  cannot  omit  to 
speak  of  our  interest  in  schools  for  the  Blind 
and  Deaf,  the  Hoshyarpore  Orphanage,  etc. 
Our  Board  entirely  built  and  equipped  the 
school  at  Peking  which  was  destroyed  in  the 
Boxer  rebellion,  but  the  school  was  after¬ 
wards  transferred  to  Paotingfu.  The  Arthur 
Mitchell  Memorial  Fund  for  a  new  station  at 
Praa,  Laos,  and  the  EHinwood  Training 
School  in  the  Philippines,  have  claimed  our 
interest  and  help. 

That  we  have  not  omitted  to  think  of  the 
physical  needs  of  our  noble  missionaries, 
laboring  amid  great  climatic  disadvantages  to 
the  utmost  limit  of  their  health  and  strength, 
is  shown  by  our  contributing  homes  for  sum¬ 
mer  resort,  such  as  the  Nourmahal  Summer 
Home  at  Hamadan,  and  the  old  Temple 
bought  and  fitted  up  near  Peking,  for  the  same 
purpose. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  much  money 
has  been  raised  for  the  outfit  and  travelling 
expenses  for  outgoing  missionaries. 

The  Children’s  Bands  have  supplied  boats 
for  use  in  travelling  up  and  down  the  rivers, 
sometimes  the  only  highways  for  Siam  and 
Africa,  and  wells  have  been  dug  and  con¬ 
duits  made  to  furnish  pure  water  to  many 
Stations,  and  a  sawmill  constructed  at  Chieng 
Mai. 

We  do  not  attempt  the  necrology  for  40 
years,  we  can  only  give  thanks  for  the  long 
line  of  devoted  and  saintly  women  who  have 
labored  in  the  Lord  with  us,  but  we  cannot 


lO 


omit  to  mention  our  losses  in  the  past  year 
and  to  place  a  wreath  of  affectionate  honor 
upon  the  names  of  Mrs.  Henry  N.  Beers,  our 
President  for  20  years,  and  of  Miss  Mary 
Parsons,  a  manager  almost  from  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  this  Board,  who,  by  her  literary  abili¬ 
ties  and  inspiring  energy,  was  of  signal  useful¬ 
ness  to  the  cause. 

As  we  review  briefly  the  work  of  the  past, 
mingled  feelings  are  ours — we  realize  our 
shortcomings,  our  want  of  faith  sometimes  to 
go  forward,  our  mistaKes,  our  failure  to  meet 
opportunities  shining  before  us — and  for  these 
we  humbly  implore  our  Father’s  forgiveness; 
and  we  see  that  God  has  given  us  courage, 
has  helped  us  to  do  many  things  in  His  name, 
and  for  this  we  offer  our  deepest  thanks,  and 
as  we  enter  upon  another  period  of  mission¬ 
ary  service  we  dedicate  ourselves  anew  to  the 
God-given  work  of  proclaiming  Christ  to  our 
heathen  sisters.  May  we  rise  to  the  great 
task,  may  we  “sound  out  the  word  of  the 
Lord”  that  many  may  be  “turned  from  idols 
to  serve  the  living  and  true  God.” 


THE  WILLIAM  DARLING  PRESS 
NEW  YORK 


